^ Josephus. When Zelimus, [?] emperor of Constantinople, had taken Egypt, he found a great deal of tre.isure there ; and the soldiers asking of him what they should do Willi the citizens of Eu'vpt, having found a great treasure among them ; Oh, saith the emperor, hang ihcm all up, fur tliey are loo rich to be made slavi-s.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 273
cannot bring a soul to heaven, so tliey cannot keep a soul from drop- ping down to hell.
'This world's wealth that men so much desire, May well be likened to a burning fire, Whereof a little can do little harm But profit much our bodies well to warm : But take too much, and surely thou shalt burn. So too much wealth to too much woe does turn.'
[9.] The ninth maxim that I shall lay down to j^ut a stop to your too eager pursuit after the things of this world, is this — viz.. That there is no rest to he found in any earthly enjoyments. Rest is the centre at which all intellectQal natures, as well as natural bodies, aim at. A man that is inordinately in love with the world can never be at rest. The drunkard sometimes rests from his cups, and the unclean person from his filthiness, and the swearer from his oaths, and the idolater from his idols, but the worldling is never at rest ; his head and heart are still a-plodding and a-plotting how to get, and how to keep, the things of this world : Eccles. v. 12, ' The sleep of the labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much ; but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.' i These three vultures — care of get- ting, fear of keeping, and grief of losing — feed day and night upon the heart of a rich and wretched worldling, so that his sleep departs from him. Sometimes his abundance lies like a lumjj of lead heavy upon his heart, so that he cannot rest. Sometimes his conscience does so lash, and lance, and gall him for what he has got by indirect ways and means, that he cannot sleep. Sometimes God himself will not suffer him to sleep. Sometimes God shews him the handwriting upon the wall, Dan. \. 6, Q \ sometimes he terrifies him with dreams, and sometimes he throws handfuls of hell-fire in his face, as once he did into Judas's, Mat. xxvi. 24 ; and this hinders his rest. Sometimes by their excessive eating and drinking, their gluttony, their delicious fare, they overcharge nature, which causeth indigestion and malignant vapours, whereby sleep is wholly removed, or else much disturbed. Earthly riches are an evil master, a treacherous servant, fathers of flattery, sons of grief, a cause of fear to those that have them, and a cause of sorrow to those that want them ; and therefore what rest is there to be found in the enjoyment of them? [Augustine.] The prior in Melanchthon rolled his hands up and down in a basin full of angels, thinking to have charmed his gout, but this could give him no ease, no rest."-^ Latimer, in a sermon before King Edward the Sixth, tells a story of a rich man, who, when he lay upon his sick-bed, one came to him and told him that he was a dead man, that he was no man for this world. As soon as ever the sick man heard these words, saith Latimer, he cried out, Must I die ? Send for a physician ! Wounds, side, heart — must I die ? Wounds, side, heart — must I die ? and thus he continued crying out. Wounds, side, heart— must I die ? Must I die and leave these riches behind me ? All the riches that he had
^ He that is rich in conscience, saith Austin, sleeps more soundly than he that is richly clothed in purple, Luke xii. 20.
'■^ Had a man as mucli honour and dignity, profit and pleasure, as himself could wish, or the world atford, yet within twenty-tour hours he would be weary of all, and must go to sleep.
274 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
heaped together could give him no rest nor quiet wlien the king of terrors knocked at his doors. All the good things of this world have more or lesssof the thorn in them; and therefore what rest can they give ? Achan's golden wedge i)roved a wedge to cleave him, and his garment a garment to shroud him. In 8[>ain they lived happily until hre made some mountains vomit gold ; but what miserable discords have followed ever since ! It is only heaven that is above all winds and storms and tempests, neither hath God cast man out of one para- dise for him to thmk to find out another i)aradise in this world. But,
[10.] The tenth and last maxim that I shall lay down to put a stop' to your too eager pursuit after the things of this world, is this — viz., That it is a very high point of Christian ivisdom and pnidence, always to look tcpon the good things and the great things of this tvorld as a man ivill certainly look upon them ichcn he comes to die. Oh, with what a disdainful eye, with what a contemptible eye, with what a scornful eye, and with what a weaned heart and cold aifections do men look upon all the pomp, state, bravery, and glory of the world, when their soul sits upon their trembling lips, and there is but a short step between them and eternity ! He that looks upon the world whilst he has it under his hand, as he will assuredly look upon it when he is to take his leave of it, he will,
(1.) Never sin to get the world. Nor,
(2.) He will never grieve inordinately to part with the world. Nor,
(3.) He will never envy those who enjoy much of the world. Nor,
(4.) He will never dote upon the world, he will never be enamoured with the world. I have read of a man, who, lying in a burning fever, professed that if he had all the world at his dispose, he would give it all for one draught of beer ; at so low a rate do men value the world at such a time as that is. King Lysimachus lost his kingdom for one draught of water to quench his thirst, i If men were but so wise to value the world at no higher a rate in health than they do in sickness, in the day of life than they do at tlie hour of death, they would never be fond of it, they would never be so deeply in love with it. Now, oh that these ten maxims may be so blest to the reader as to crucify the world to him, and him unto the world ! Gal. vi. 14. He gave good couni=;el who said, [Austin,] 0 man, if thou be wise, let the world pass, lest thou pass away with the world. Fix thy heart on God, let him be thy portion ; fix thy affections upon Christ, he is thy redemption ; on heaven, let that be thy mansion. Oh take that counsel, ' Love not the world, nor the things of the world.' John ii. 15. Mark, he doth not say, have not the world, nor the things of the world, but ' love not the world, nor the things of the world :' nor he doth not say, use not the world, nor the things of the world, but ' love not the world, nor the things of the world:' nor he doth not say, take no moderate care for the world, nor the things of the world, but ' love not the world, nor the things of the world.' But to prevent all mistakes, give me leave to premise the.se three things: —